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Rules
Mission Statement Contrary to the suggestion game implied by the 'You are' title, You are King is a large multiplayer game in which only a very few players are actually Kings. Players take on the role of individual citizens, noble or otherwise, in a developing world managed in fair part by the players themselves. New characters start out with almost nothing, but by swearing fealty to a King (or striking out on their own as an independent) they can rise to the position of Dukes, Merchant Princes or even Kings themselves. In You Are King, a player character can... + Raise an army + Seize or be granted land + Become a merchant or craftsman + Rebel and overthrow the existing King + Become a King themselves + Pretty much anything else within reason! Setting The region around the Kingdom of Elbreth (the original player kingdom) is culturally and technologically on the cusp of the Dark Ages. Gunpowder is unknown in this part of the world (or any other), but architecture, engineering and the natural sciences are closer to Western Renaissance levels. Culturally, a Western Medieval theme is considered appropriate. Although this is a fantasy, high fantasy elements have been reined in to avoid the risk of Tolkeinism. The GM has ruled that there is only one other sapient species, thehatcuri, who live far off the map to the south. The GM has come up with a good reason for why this is the case. With the exception of one bloodline of particularly long-lived humans (sometimes called 'elves'), this is it as far as fantastic races go. No orcs, thankyouplease. You may only apply to join as a human or hatcuri. Magic exists by common consent of the players, but is rare and forcibly balanced (albeit like a centrifuge) by the GMs. There are some fairly iron-cast rules regarding the use of magic that any would-be mages should read. Magic of any kind is rare and largely feared in this part of the world, and for damned good reason. There are a number of religions in the world, and the area around Elbreth is split between semi-pantheistic folk religions and a small number of conflicting monotheistic religions. Monotheistic followings of note include Cyclicism and Suulian Orthodoxy, both of which preach the existence of a supreme deity but which differ in their precise teachings. Many characters will refer to 'the gods' rather than 'God' though, giving nod to the prevalence of the old folk faiths in much the same way as Real Life renaissance poets would often credit 'Jove' and other Saturnelian deities even in a Christian world. Play takes place over years of game time, with the original turn starting in the year 312. At the start of each year earnings and tax income are accrued, upkeep/wages are paid and several abilities such as raising personal guard regiments are reset. Each year is split into four seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. To prevent the early 'time-travel' issues that arose with doing events out of order, events take place within the season the game is in and when a new season is declared cannot be back-dated. This would seem fairly obvious, but has proved a necessary rule to implement. Some actions (generally travel) take place over more than one season. Within a season time is somewhat fluid, but order of events should be respected. The main GM (currently Iituem) makes dice rolls, is the final word on any rules disputes and is completely impartial. He also controls any NPC factions, though not exclusively. Any player who is a King (i.e. ruler of a state that has been declared by the main GM to be a Kingdom) can also act as a GM within his Kingdom, rolling dice and making rules judgements. He cannot usually roll for himself or actions that involve his own forces, since his impartiality would be in question; another King (also not involved) or the GM must roll for him in these situations. Kings can roll for events occurring outside any player Kingdom, so long as they are not directly involved in/have a direct stake in the outcome. In essence, part of the responsibility of being a King is to take some of the load off the GM. This helps us support a larger playerbase, to boot. Regarding Magic As part of the rules rewrite, a magic system will be assessed and parts of that have already been displayed in Locanil's spirit summoning rolls; a division of spells into different parts (in that case Summoning, Binding and Banishing) where any part has the power to go wrong. This will keep the variability of magic in place, especially given that a different thing can go wrong at each step with differing consequences. Also coming with the rules update will be a theme and setting post, in which the role of magic is noted; I am determined to keep this game relatively low-magic. You are King is very much a game of politics and subtlety as much as it is open warfare and adventuring, and this works better with most characters staying mundane. Wizards should be rare and dangerous, and tempting as it might be to make everyone a wizard we as the GMs will want to make it painful enough to play one to discourage most from trying. The same goes for demons and other high-fantasy elements. The introduction of magic led to some dangerous expectations and assumptions about what 'goes' in the gameworld, with one player stating that "this is a fantasy" and therefore assuming that druids and dire wolves could be taken as read. Medieval/Reformation/Renaissance Europe should be your guideline here, not Dungeons and Dragons. By common consent of the players, magic exists, but it is not the focus of the game. Prevalance of Magic I'm going to rule that magic and magic-users range from uncommon to very rare (depending on region and type of magic). Here, a court wizard might be a big thing. Elsewhere, every minor nation might have one. Magic will often have a social cost besides its material and fatigue costs. All forms of magic are essentially limited by these three factors: Efficiency/Cost: If it was easier to summon vegetables out of the air, nobody would farm. If sustained light sources were easier to make and to make available than candles, chandlers would go out of business. Farmers and chandlers exist, so it becomes apparent that there are some things (most things) that magic cannot do as well as mundane methods, assuming it can do them at all. Alternately it may be the case that magic can do these things as easily or even easier than by mundane methods, but the associated costs or consequences (see Power Source) may be too great for it to be worthwhile. It may be easier for a Summoner to 'create' fruit out of thin air than to farm it, but there's no guarantee that it will remain fruit once he stops concentrating. Magic excels at doing things that simply aren't possible yet (or at all) through mundane means. Power Source: This ties partially back into costs, but the idea is that all magic requires a power source to work. This might take the form of ingredients and reagents that are charged with whatever force powers spells and expended in the course of casting. It might be that you can only access an otherwise free and available power source in a certain area or at a certain time (or when the stars are in alignment). Or it may be that the power source comes from living entities (or not-quite-living ones), that to power your spell you may need to drain the life force from another, or to summon and bind a demonic spirit to power it. Power sources limit where and when magic can be applied and bring additional costs and consequences to its use. Social Cost: Part of the social cost of magic depends upon the costs or consequences of its use. If you can heal someone back to full health, but the power source comes from draining another person's life force to death, this may not sit well with the population. Dragging the dead back into the world of the living for information or service might similarly not sit well with people. You might skip all these messy power source issues by using the relatively clean, renewable source of bound demons to run your spells - but there's always the fear they'll break loose and lay waste to the world of the living. Another part comes from the fear of the strange or different; even if your wizards are only constrained by the need to gather and perform spells at midnight in the deep forest, that's still strange occult behaviour. People have historically been lynched for less, and in any case such figures might be treated with suspicion or ostracised for being clearly different. A third, less obvious part of the social cost of magic comes into play on the occasions when magic can do a job as well as or even better than a mundane source. If a mage rolls into town who can forge perfectly balanced steel swords with a wave of his wand, the Armourer's Guild is going to take some very sharp steps to drive him out of business (and out of town) before he can cut in on their trade any further. Magic with lesser costs, more benign power sources and more socially acceptable practices are more likely to exist in the world on a merely uncommon level. Wizards who summon vast demon-led skeletal armies through the blood sacrifice of peasants on the night of the full moon are going to be understandably rare. Players intending to play wizards might do well to consider the Abilities, Costs, Consequences, Power Source and Social Cost of the style of magic they use. Time and Turn Progression Play takes place over years of game time, with the original turn starting in the year 312. At the start of each year earnings and tax income are accrued, upkeep/wages are paid and several abilities such as raising personal guard regiments are reset. Each year is split into four seasons; Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. To prevent the early 'time-travel' issues that arose with doing events out of order, events take place within the season the game is in and when a new season is declared cannot be back-dated. This would seem fairly obvious, but has proved a necessary rule to implement. Some actions (generally travel) take place over more than one season. Within a season time is somewhat fluid, but order of events should be respected. Adjudication The main GM (currently Iituem) makes dice rolls, is the final word on any rules disputes and is completely impartial. He also controls any NPC factions, though not exclusively. Any player who is a King (i.e. ruler of a state that has been declared by the main GM to be a Kingdom) can also act as a GM within his Kingdom, rolling dice and making rules judgements. He cannot usually roll for himself or actions that involve his own forces, since his impartiality would be in question; another King (also not involved) or the GM must roll for him in these situations. Kings can roll for events occurring outside any player Kingdom, so long as they are not directly involved in/have a direct stake in the outcome. In essence, part of the responsibility of being a King is to take some of the load off the GM. This helps us support a larger playerbase, to boot. Original Rules Favour System: Favour is entirely at the King's discretion. Roll to Dodge: Anything subject to the hands of chance is determined by a 1d6 die roll. Standard RtD rules apply: 1 = crit failure, 2 = failure, 3 = minor success, 4 = success, 5 = great success, 6 overshoot with consequences. Modifiers may be applied to rolls in specific circumstances as described below. Caveat: Only natural 1s and natural 6s count as crit fails/overshoots, in the event of modifiers. Otherwise unnatural 1s or lower are just failures and unnatural 6s or higher are grand successes. Game Years: Game years pass when the GM (that is, I) say so. Time is otherwise fluid, but when a game year passes armies are recruited, taxes are collected and other events may occur. The king does not need to wait for a game year to pass in order to take actions but the king can always declare he is willing to "wait for year's end", at which time I will (if around) pass a year. Otherwise a game year will pass when I feel like it. Deposing the King: The king can only be deposed by advisors/nobles commanding military strength. At game start, the king is the only player with military strength (his strength is that of the Royal Army). Players granted 'noble' status by the king have the right to raise their own troops. Non-nobles can declare independence and raise an army as per the troop raising rules below, but will probably earn the ire of the king for doing so. Once an alliance of players has equal or greater military strength to the King and all his supporters, they may stage a coup. The pretender who declares his opposition may make a 1d6 roll, adding to that roll the difference in strength between his forces and those of the king. The king may then make a 1d6 roll to oppose the pretender army (without modifiers). If the king's roll is equal to or greater than the pretender's roll, the king retains his seat. If the pretender's roll is greater, the king is deposed and the pretender becomes the new king. The pretender then gains the power of the Royal Army in addition to any troops of his own. Regardless of whether the coup is successful, all players involved will lose 1 military strength from their armies (per player). Thus an unsuccessful coup may leave the Royal Army at an advantage (if it is the single largest army). If there are sufficient armies to attempt another coup, another coup may be attempted immediately. Declaring a new Kingdom: If allied independents have enough clout, they can declare independence. This requires them to own at least five parcels of land within the same province. Declaring independence is instantaneous, and whoever the independents elect instantly becomes king of the new Kingdom and has all the powers of the original King (pertaining to the new Kingdom). It is very likely that the old king will attempt to destroy the new kingdom once created. Annexing a Kingdom: Simply continue to crush the opposing kingdom with military might until they either have no armies left to oppose you, or you/they are willing to broker a peace settlement. Diplomacy may then ensue. Alternately, you may capture every last parcel of land the kingdom possesses, de facto annexing the kingdom. You will also gain the Treasury of the former king in this manner. Military Strength: Military strength represents armies, powerful sorcerers, the aid of church healers, siege engines or anything else that would confer a military advantage. The main way military strength is gained is by raising armies, though military strength can be gained by events or completing challenges set by the GM or king (see 'guidelines to the king'). Raising Armies Unless otherwise noted, all regiments/units provide one military strength each. Personal Guard: Every player that is either granted 'noble' status or declares independence can raise one regiment per game year as their personal guard. Raising a personal guard regiment takes no time and happens instantly. If the regiment is killed it cannot be replaced until a year has passed. If the regiment is not killed, a noble/independent can continue to increase the size of his personal guard by one regiment per year, subject to maintenance. Recruiting regiments of the personal guardafter the first costs 1 ducat/regiment. The first personal guard regiment is always free, being composed of loyal retainers and kinsmen. This regiment still requires upkeep (see below). Land: At the start of the game, all land belongs to the king. The king may grant land to subjects, or it may be taken by independents in battle (see Battles). Each parcel of land allows half a regiment to be recruited per year by the owner, i.e. you need two parcels of land to recruit a regiment, minimum. (Half-regiments do not carry through, so you cannot just recruit a regiment every two years.) Land also provides tax (see Taxes). Recruiting regiments from land costs 1 ducat/regiment. Other: Other methods may be suggested by players to recruit military units, such as training an elite corps of knights. These may or may not have success, and will be up to the king (or independents) to enact. Upkeep: Every mundane infantry regiment (other regiments or military units may have separate costs) costs 1 Ducat to sustain per game year. This is deducted at the end of the game year, should the regiment still be intact. If there are insufficient ducats, excess regiments are disbanded. Other regiments might have other upkeep costs, but as a general rule each unit of military strength will cost 1 ducat/year to sustain. Provinces: All armies exist in a physical location somewhere in the world. Armies therefore need to declare what province they are in. This is important because if raids or attacks happen in a province in which there are no opposing armies, no battle can happen and the attacker automatically succeeds. Taxes ---- Taxes are the lifeblood of the kingdom. Taxes are necessary to maintain the armies of the nation. Taxes can also be used to give bonuses to RtD attempts (see Guidelines to the King). Taxes are taken in Ducats. Taxes from Land: Every parcel of land owned by the kingdom provides 1 Ducat/game year in tax. This represents agricultural yields, land revenues or whatever else that serves the basic foundation for land taxation. Land owned by the king's subjects (nobility is not a requirement) or seized by independents will pay the ducat of tax to the player directly, though the king is free to demand however much of the tax from his vassal. Note that land can be seized in battle. Taxes from Trade: Ports and markets provide a variable amount of ducats/game year in tax, depending on trade and relations with other countries. These are paid to whomever owns the market/port. Seizing a market/port in battle also brings 1 parcel of land (the land on which the market/port rests). The king may gift the port/market to a vassal without also gifting the land upon which it rests. Taxes from Industry: Towns provide a variable amount of ducats/game year in tax, depending on the development of the town. These are paid to whomever owns the town. Seizing a town in battle also brings at least 1 parcel of land (the land on which the town is built) though larger towns may stretch over multiple parcels, all of which will be seized during a capture. The king may gift the town to a vassal without gifting the land upon which it rests (essentially granting the right to take rents). Other Taxes: The king may attempt to raise extraordinary taxes, such as war taxes. These may have ill effects, such as causing peasant riots. It is also possible to gain other sources of revenue not listed here. Battles ---- Defence of the Realm is of the utmost importance to a King. During any battle, the King and his supporters will want to choose how many regiments or other units ofmilitary strength (see above) to send out to fight. All battles consist of a pair of opposed rolls from either side - 1d6 plus the full military strength of the army being brought to bear. If one side beats the other's score, the battle is a victory for that side; the victor loses 1 point of military strength (i.e. a regiment is killed) whilst the defeated loses 2 points of military strength. If both sides get even scores, the battle is inconclusive and both sides lose 1 point of military strength. When regiments are killed in battle, the leader of the side they were on (if a player) gets to choose which regiments were killed. If an NPC, the King may choose. As well as costing troops, battles in distant locations may prevent troops sent there from defending other positions. In the above example, King Heath had better have left some of the Royal Army back home, or else he might not be able to get the rest of the Army back before pretenders seized his throne whilst he was away! Battle Modifiers: Some things can grant modifiers to battles taking place - in the above example, the frosty terrain granted a penalty to non-trolls fighting in the region. It is possible for kings to build fortresses and the like to give bonuses to defenders in certain locations. This is up to the king. Capturing Open Land: Capturing land that is not a market, port or part of a town requires a successful attack on whatever party owns it (which might be an enemy country, rebels or even the King himself). If a victory is secured in battle, 1d6 parcels of land are captured by the victors. If the land is undefended, no victory is needed - ownership can be claimed simply by moving the army into that region. You still can only claim 1d6 parcels at a time, due to the need to pacify the peasants. NB: If no open land remains (i.e. land that is not covered by a market, port or town) you can only capture markets/ports or towns. Capturing Markets/Ports & Towns: Capturing markets and ports requires a successful victory in battle (or moving into the market/port if undefended) and will grant ownership of both the market/port and one parcel of land. The same rule applies for towns, except that the owner gains as many parcels of land as the town covered. NB: Capturing markets/ports and towns in battle leads to looting and pillaging. Any market/port or town captured in this manner loses 20% of its base yearly revenues from looting. If you want to take these structures intact, make a diplomatic settlement. Raids: If you are unwilling to capture, you can raid a market, port, town or other taxable structure (but not open land) instead. On a success, you steal 1d6 Ducats from the Treasury of whomever owned that structure. If the owner's Treasury is empty, money is stolen from next year's tax revenue. If that is empty, raiding the structure yields no benefits. You do not gain ownership of the structure with a raid. Defenceless Targets: Targets may be considered defenceless if there are either no armies/defenders in that target's province at the time an attack is conducted or the armies present in that province and unwilling/unable to defend the target. Attacks on defenceless targets always succeed, though this does not necessarily protect you from retaliation. New Rules The game evolves as we progress and so we acquire additional rules. All/Most are mentioned below. No dynastic inheritance by the same player. By all means get someone else to play your brother/sister/cousin/daughter/slave, but don't just reincarnate as your next of kin should you die. Inheritance: You may designate players to inherit your estates or wealth (if you have any) to pass to them on your character's death. You should do this before you die. It is up to the King as to whether the law respects that inheritance (if within the kingdom's reach) but otherwise it will be respected. Regular soldiers can transfer their loyalty in this way, but not personal guards. You may not pass inheritance on to your next character in this way, and if I see anyone pass their estates on to a patsy who then gives it straight to their new character they will suffer the wrath of fate for playing the system. If you deliberately play a character who is next-of-kin to another player's character, you will automatically inherit unless the player designates a different heir. NB: You can inherit the kingdom this way. Whether the nobility respect that inheritance is a different matter. Wars of succession have been known to happen this way. Trade Potential: Provinces now get an extra stat that applies to the whole province; trade potential. This represents the potential ducats to be gained from trade to and within this area. Building and expanding markets/ports uses up trade potential. Once trade potential is used up, markets/ports can only get more profitable by taking tax away from other markets (or by taking trade potential from another region). The base TP of a region may depend on various factors (such as population, geography etc) but every resource the owning kingdom has access to will increase the TP of a region by 1. Urban Potential: Town growth is now limited by the number of resources a region can produce. With 0 Resources, a total of 2 Tax can be derived from the towns in the region. Each additional Resource adds +3 to the total tax limit in the region. Manufactured resources count towards this limit. New towns nominally have a base tax of +2, so their base difficulty is -2. Some outposts might be founded at -1 difficulty with a base tax of +1. The difficulty of improving a town thereafter is equal to its present tax rate/2 but limited by resources (see above). Mines and other such affairs to either count as an improvement to towns (urban industry) or as one-off events. In this case, setting up a mine to (say) search for ores or other geological resources would be a one-off event. Success would garner you a cash bonus, resource revealing or both. Failure might cost you. Base difficulty for that task would be -2 (-1 for ducat bonus chance, -1 for searching for the first resource in a region). If a region has no resources of note (like Eelspine), finding the first resource is at a -1 difficulty. The difficulty increases by -2 for each successive resource to be found. Military Labour: Put more soldiers into the effort (+0.5 to roll per regiment) to simulate using your troops as manual labour rather than leaving them on guard duty or spend ducats (+1 to roll per ducat). Colonising Unsettled Regions usually has a difficulty of -1 per parcel of land attempted to be claimed. Some harsh regions (such as high mountains) may have higher base difficulty. Fortifications add structural bonuses to defending armies. Fortifications increase in order; Walls, Forts, Castles and so on provide defensive bonuses of +1, +2, +3 etc. The difficulty to create a structure is equal to its defensive bonus. Upgrading a fortification (say from Keep to Castle) is as difficult as building it anew, but does not require as many engineers to construct (see specialists). A fortification always requires Defense Level - 1 total engineers invested to construct. Terrain Defense Bonuses apply to whole provinces in general and provide bonuses to any defending army in the region. Bonuses tend to be +1 for hilly or heavily forested terrain and +2 for mountainous or swampy terrain. Asymmetric Warfare Ruling: If an army can successfully beat its opponent by 5 or more (i.e. the equivalent of rolling 6 vs 1 on an even battlefield) then the victors do not lose a regiment from the fight. The defeated still lose 2 regiments as normal. This should allow small armies with terrifying defences to hold out rather than be wiped out in three rounds of attrition by an army that can spare the men. Player vs Player Combat: In the event two characters go at each other with weapons, rolls will be as per battles; opposed rolls with the winner highest. Each character starts with three hitpoints and will lose a hitpoint on a lose or draw (winning a roll, you don't lose a hp). Having a shield or armour (include it in your preparations) counts as a +1 and having a weapon counts as a +1. Having guards also counts as (only) a +1. Other modifiers may be applied by me or the King, depending on who is doing the combat rolls. First to zero hitpoints is dead or incapacitated (and thus at the victor's mercy). Beating your enemy's roll by 5 means you inflict 2hp damage instead of 1hp. Meat Shields: To stretch combats like this out, having 3 guards gives you a bonus 3hp that you can lose in a fight instead. Of course, every time you lose one of those hp you'll lose a third of your guards. Having 2 guards grants a bonus 2hp, 1 guard grants an extra hp. I'm going to rule that even if you have a whole platoon of guards around you, you can only effectively have up to 3 bodyguards in a given combat. Player Training/Research: Players can engage in training or research projects (1 project/year max) such as duelling training, leadership training or mechanical or alchemical research. These projects require 100 points to complete and as a rule of thumb successes give 10-30 points, overshoots deduct 10 points and critical failures deduct 20 points. When the project is eventually completed, the player character will usually receive a +1 to rolls relating to whatever skill or knowledge they have acquired. Such training or research will often have other costs such as Ducats or special tasks attached. Specialists: We'll incorporate more of these as we go, but specialists will be a 'people-resource' representing specialised trades. The first specialists are engineers, needed for building siege weaponry. You will need to train specialists or hire them from abroad. Engineers: Needed for building siege weaponry instead of land parcels, used up on a one-per-unit basis. I'm ruling that you can't build anything more than a wall in terms of defensive structures without expending an engineer for each level of structure above that. (Though improving an existing structure would reduce the cost by as many engineers as were already 'invested'.) Engineers can also be used to construct gunpowder or build and man temporary traps. Engineers spent to produce units are returned if the unit is voluntarily disbanded (but not if it is destroyed). Sailors: Needed for shipbuilding. Ports produce 1 Sailor/year. Gunpowder: Provided you have access to a technology, engineers can be diverted to producing gunpowder instead of being expended. Any engineers left at the end of the year will produce 1 barrel of gunpowder each, which is stored. Gunpowder barrels can be used to create one-shot traps (+1 to a single fight, max bonus +1) or provide a +1 bonus (per barrel) to mining-related rolls. Traps: An engineer unit can be spent to build and man traps in a specific location at the cost of 1 Ducat. The traps can be used in a single fight to provide a +1 trap bonus (attacking or defending), after which the engineer unit is released for re-use. The traps can be reset at the cost of another 1 Ducat. Tactics Tactical Movement It may be advantageous in battle to specify using certain units to attack others whilst leaving other units behind, or else to split enemy forces to take them on piecemeal. Attempting to pull off tactics more complex than a straight charge or holding position as a clump of forces whilst the enemy attacks requires a Tactics roll. Given the simple success/failure nature of Tactics rolls, these are handled with a simple d6 roll rather than RtD rules. The base success threshold for any Tactical manoeuvre is 3; i.e. roll 3+ on a d6 to succeed. Each tactic added to the manoeuvre increases the success threshold, making it harder to pull off but allowing you to combine multiple tactics. Unit or PC bonuses (e.g. from Training) can provide bonuses to the Tactics roll. Enemy tactical bonuses decrease the tactics roll. Failure usually has consequences related to the attempted manoeuvre. Flank the Enemy: Attempt to attack your enemy from the sides or rear at the risk of getting caught exposed. On a success, +1 to the battle roll. On a failure, -1 to the battle roll. Difficulty: +2 Split the Enemy: Split the enemy into two or more portions to engage each part separately. On a success, can engage fractured army according to own disposition. On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +1, additional +1 for each unit in the enemy army that will not be engaged by your own troops. Special: Split the Enemy is always checked first, independent of any other tactics combined with it. On a success, any tactics combined with split the enemy are rolled for each fraction of the enemy engaged. On a failure, all combined tactics are rolled vs the full enemy army with an additional +1 difficulty. Negate Terrain Bonus: Attempt to gain the high ground. On a success, enemy terrain bonus negated. On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +2, but see special. Special: If this tactic is combined with a successful attempt to split the enemy, the difficulty is reduced to +1 for the main body of the enemy army and +0 for any other fractions. Force Rout: Try to get the enemy to rout with a potentially reckless charge. On a success, if the fight is a victory (not a loss or draw), destroy 3 enemy units instead of 2. On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +2 Conserve Forces: Hold your men back just enough to avoid unnecessary losses. On a success, if the fight is a victory (not a loss or draw), lose no units from attrition (normally 1 unit lost). On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +2 Scale/Breach Walls: Try to reduce the effectiveness of the enemy defences by breaching or scaling the walls. On a success, -1 to enemy structural defence bonus. On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +2 Capture Unit: Aim to capture a unit instead of outright destroying it. Unit must be one of the two weakest units in the fight. On a success, named unit (or if not valid, second-weakest unit) is captured on a victory (any other units that would normally be destroyed are destroyed as normal). On a failure, -1 to battle roll. Difficulty: +3 Offensive/Defensive Flipping and Fleeing a Battle A side may only flee a battle automatically if it has advantage. Whoever won the last round of combat has advantage (in the event of a draw, advantage is retained, and in the event of a draw on the first round the attacker has advantage). A side without advantage can try to flee anyway, but will only succeed if the opposing side opts not to chase them. If the opponent does opt to chase them, the flee attempt fails and the opponent becomes the attacker (gaining any unit bonuses to attack and losing any unit bonuses to defence, including terrain and fortification bonuses) whilst the would-be fleeing party becomes the defender. The default position of armies is to let fleeing enemies run and to flee once they lose a battle. Standing battle orders can be given to the contrary. Be warned that fleeing may destroy your attack advantages, but chasing will destroy your defensive advantages. It may thus be in the interests of a berserker army to remain on the attack as much as it possibly can, even in potentially ruinous circumstances, whilst a disciplined force in good fortifications might elect to relinquish the opportunity to chase the enemy lest it be lured into a trap. Units Unless otherwise stated, 1 manpower is equivalent to the manpower provided by 2 parcels of land. A better way to think of this is that 1 parcel of land provides 0.5 manpower per year. The base unit for all land regiments is the Infantry Regiment, hired at a cost of 1 Manpower and 1 Ducat, with an upkeep of 1 Ducat/year. Each unit has two upgrade 'slots' - a unit can be trained up after hiring (or at the same time as hiring) by paying the upgrade cost and it will gain the benefits of the new upgrade. Upkeep costs will usually increase as well. Personal guards are automatically hired as Infantry Regiments, with the first personal guard regiment having a -1 Ducat discount to hire and all PG regiments having a -1 manpower discount to hire (but only 1 hire per year). Thus, hiring cavalry personal guard would actually require 1 manpower to recruit, as the cavalry upgrade has a +1 manpower requirement. No unit can have more than 2 upgrades, though it might be possible to research expensive upgrades that are simply more powerful than their predecessors. Replacing an upgrade (when both slots are full) requires the full upgrade cost for the new upgrade be paid. There is no refund for the upgrade it replaces (except for specialists, who are released as they would be on a unit disband). Base Units ---- Infantry Regiment: Str 1. Basic land unit. Hire Cost: 1 Ducat, 1 Manpower Upkeep: 1 Ducat/year Siege Tower: Str 0. Basic siege unit. +2 Str vs walled fortifications. Hire Cost: 1 Ducat, 1 Engineer Upkeep: 1 Ducat/year Light Warship: Str 1. Basic naval unit. Can transport 1 Unit. Unless otherwise noted, transported units cannot fight as part of naval battles. Hire Cost: 1 Ducat, 1 Sailor Upkeep: 1 Ducat/year Land Upgrades ---- Heavy Unit I: Str +1. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Cavalry: Str +1. +1 Str on plains, steppe or open fields, or when defending a hill (but not where also defending a walled fortress). Without access to the Horse resource, a maximum of 1 Cavalry regiment can be recruited per kingdom per year. Cavalry troops conver +1 to Tactics rolls involving them. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat, 1 Manpower (After the first unit/year, requires access to Horses.) Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Ambush: +2 Terrain bonus when conducting attacks or defence using only Ambush-capable troops. Terrain bonuses are normally provided to defenders of hilly, mountainous or heavily forested regions - terrain bonuses overlap, they do not stack. Ambush-capable troops can get the terrain bonus when attacking, however. Note that this bonus applies to the stack as a whole, not to individual units. Ambush troops confer +1 to Tactics rolls involving them. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducats Upkeep: +1 Ducats/year Raider: Can conduct hit-and-run raids on markets, ports or settlements with a chance of avoiding a fight. On a simple 1d6 roll of 4+ Raiders may avoid combat and withdraw after the raid with collected loot, unless the defenders also possess Raider-capable troops or Scouts. In this event a battle involving only the raider-capable troops/Scouts will take place. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: (No additional cost.) Pike/Reach: +3 Str vs Cavalry-capable units. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Scout: Confers ambush immunity (combat vs stacks including scouts negate the +1 terrain bonus enjoyed by Ambush units). Can defend vs raids, but not otherwise raider-capable. On a simple d6 roll of 3+, can escape from any combat before battle starts. If used to boost a scouting check (i.e. the whole unit is split up and deployed for scouting) provides a +2 to the RtD scouting roll, but on a natural 1 enough scouts are captured or lost that the unit is destroyed. Can pass through enemy territory undetected on a simple d6 roll of 4+. Does not confer this benefit to non-Scout units. Can be used to counter-scout (find and eliminate other scouts) within an area, adding a -1 penalty per Scout unit to enemy scouting checks, but these units cannot be used for anything else. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat Archer: +1 Str when defending. Additional +1 Str when fighting on hills or mountains (attacking or defending), or when defending walled fortifications. Special: Archer units are naval combat-capable, but due to the high movement of naval combat lose their defensive bonus from archery. Other bonuses can still remain in effect. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat (Requires access to High Quality Wood.) Upkeep: +1 Ducat Disciplined: +1 Str when defending. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Berserker: +1 Str when attacking. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Tactician: +2 to Tactics rolls involving this unit. A skilled captain commands this regiment. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Siege Upgrades ---- Catapults: Str +1. +2 Str defending walled fortifications. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Ballistae: Str +1. -1 Str vs walled fortifications, +1 Str defending walled fortifications. Str +1 vs cavalry, ships or siege. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Naval Upgrade ---- Heavy Ship I: Str +2. (Carracks are a heavy ship.) Upgrade Cost: 2 Ducats, 1 Sailor Upkeep: +2 Ducats/year Offensive Drill: +1 Str when attacking. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Defensive Drill: +1 Str when defending. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Tactician: +2 to Tactics rolls involving this unit. A skilled captain commands this regiment. Upgrade Cost: 0.5 Ducats Upkeep: +0.5 Ducats Oar Banks: +1 Str when attacking. +1 to Tactics rolls involving this unit. Banks of oars for higher ramming speed during attacks and manoeuvres. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +1 Ducat/year Sea Raider: On a victory or draw, sea raider units capture the Sailor specialist that was crewing the ship (if multiple specialists were crewing the ship due to upgrades, potentially all the Sailors can be captured), any non naval combat-capable units being transported (i.e. anything not able to fight in a sea battle) and any Cargo Goods being transported. Each Sailor, Cargo Good or Unit captured takes up 1 Transport space on the ship. If insufficient space exists, excess loot is left to the mercy of the sea. Sailors not intended to be used in recruiting new ships and Units that the new owner does not desire to pay upkeep for can be sold as slaves for a return of 1 Ducat each. Cargo goods are typically worth 1 Ducat each, but this may vary. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: +0.5 Ducat/year Cargo Hold: Adds +1 Transport space to a ship. Transport space is used to ferry units or cargo across the sea. Special: This upgrade can be taken twice. Upgrade Cost: 1 Ducat Upkeep: No additional cost/year.